Michael Allen qualified for U.S. Open before coming to Shoal Creek

Michael Allen hits out of the bunker on the 18th hole on Thursday at the Regions Tradition. (The Birmingham News/Linda Stelter)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Michael Allen took care of some business on the golf course Mon­day and it had nothing to do with preparing for the Regions Tradition that began Thursday.

Allen was too busy trying to qual­ify for a lifelong dream -- playing in the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco -- to worry about his upcoming trip to Shoal Creek.

Shoal Creek offers a chance for him to extend his Schwab Cup lead, which signifies the leader in points on the PGA Champions Tour, in one of the tour's five major cham­pionships. But foremost on his mind was securing a spot in a PGA major championship being played on the course where he became a member as a teenager.

Allen was one of seven players to qualify for the U.S. Open, which will be played June 14-17 at Olym­pic Club, in a sectional qualifying tournament played in Daly City, Calif.

"It certainly means an awful lot to me," Allen said. "The first time I tried for that was '87 and 25, 28 years later, I'm finally getting a chance to do that."

It was one of 11 sectional qualify­ing tournaments played within the United States on Monday and every one of the golfers had his own story.

But few of the stories mirrored what has been a nomadic journey through the world of golf for the 53-year-old northern California na­tive.

The University of Nevada grad­uate turned pro in 1984 with an eye toward playing in the 1987 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

"I was going to work after school at Morgan Stanley and that was when my father came back and said, 'We've got the U.S. Open at Olympic Club,' " Allen recalled ear­lier this year. "He said, 'I can get you back to Morgan Stanley. Why don't you go play?' " Allen didn't qualify to play in the 1987 U.S. Open, but he also never went back to becoming a full-time stockbroker. He played on the European Tour from 1986 to 1989 and returned for a one-year stint in 1992. He was a member of the Na­tionwide Tour from 1997 to 2001 and again for a year in 2003. He played PGA Tour events from 1990 to 1995, in 2002 and from 2004 to 2009.

He was good, just not good enough to get comfortable. Allen went through the grind of PGA Qualifying School -- better known as Q School -- 13 times and qual­ified nine of those times. At one point, he joked that he was the only player to have a reserved parking spot at Q School.

Allen has played in more than 360 events on the regular PGA Tour without a win.

On the Champions Tour, though, his game has flourished against many of the guys he competed against for years.

"I come out here now and I'm playing against all these great play­ers that have beaten me for so long," Allen said. "For some differ­ent reasons, now I'm one of the better players out here, I certainly believe."

Allen's first Champions Tour event was the Senior PGA Champi­onship in May 2009. He made it memorable, firing a six-under-par 274 to win the championship by two strokes over Larry Nelson at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio.

He didn't win an event last sea­son but has been a steady top-10 finisher, including a fourth-place finish last May at the Regions Tra­dition.

This season, Allen leads the Schwab Cup standings after a pair of wins and three more top-three finishes in nine events. Allen is 134 points in front of second-place John Cook and 162 points in front of third-place Bernhard Langer.

"So far it's been a dream start," Allen said. "I certainly have a long way to go with that. I know I need to win at least one of the majors to really have a chance."

He has a hill to climb to win this week at Shoal Creek. Allen had an up-and-down day on Thursday, finishing with a one-over par 73. He's seven strokes behind the leader.